Known projectiles, often referred to as multiple effect projectiles, generally comprise a shell body in which an explosive charge is disposed, together with a ballistic nose cone extending said shell body and in which or in the vicinity of which a trigger system is disposed.
Document FR-A-2 229 946 describes a projectile having a delayed explosive effect with an explosive charge that is set off a certain length of time after the moment of impact of said projectile on a target. This delay principle which is well known to persons skilled in the art is implemented by providing an incendiary charge ahead of the explosive charge, with the relatively slow combustion conditions that obtain in the burning mass being used to obtain the delayed explosion. The incendiary charge which is disposed in the body of the shell is thus set off by an incendiary charge disposed in the nose of the projectile or by a fuse. Attempts have thus been made to control the desired delay of the chain of pyrotechnical reactions by providing one or more holes in the incendiary charge disposed in the body of the shell, with said holes increasing the intensity of the combustion of said incendiary charge.
However, such a structure remains of relatively limited application insofar as the delay, which is measured in time corresponding to a distance remains in any event greater than one meter, and insofar as the projectile has mediocre sensitivity to impact, thereby requiring the target to be of considerable thickness for proper use of the projectile. In addition, that prior projectile provides a very low explosive effect with splinters that are large in mass and slow in velocity (the transmission speed of the shock wave is then relatively low). By providing an incendiary composition in the shell body, the amount of room available for the layer of explosive charge is limited.
Document FR-A-2 229 945 describes a variant of the above prior projectile, which variant includes an additional adjustment charge disposed in the shell body above the incendiary charge in said body and associated with a penetration body. However that variant suffers from the same drawbacks and limitations as those mentioned above.
The state of the art is also illustrated by the following documents FR-A-2 067 440, FR-A-2 356 906, FR-A-2 363 076, FR-A-2 533 309, FR-A-2 606 867, U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,551, U.S. Pat. No. 2,323,303, CH-A-654 406, NO-C-137 296, NO-C-137 735, and AU-B-21 658/56.
Those of the above-mentioned documents that describe projectiles having a delayed explosive effect and/or having multiple effects also tend to show that such projectiles suffer from difficulties to a greater or lesser extent in establishing detonation conditions, which conditions become more like deflagration of the explosive charge, thus giving a reduced splintering effect.
An object of the invention is to provide a destructive effect projectile that explodes on impact and that provides better performance than prior art projectiles described in the above-specified patents, with the terminal effect of the projectile being optimized.
Another object of the invention is to provide a projectile that can be used both against armored targets and against targets that are not armored, the projectiles presenting good sensitivity to targets that are not very thick.
Another object of the invention is to provide a projectile having a structure enabling short delays to be obtained, in particular delays of less than one meter, accompanied by a destruction effect that is particularly effective, said effect resulting from a combination of an incendiary effect that is reinforced and considerable penetration power for the fragments generated by the projectile operating on impact (numerous fragments, of low mass and high velocity, thus producing a particularly "explosive" effect) with the shock wave being transmitted at a high velocity.